Thursday, June 20, 2013

The Cycle of Chronic Pain!

By

Chris Newcomb, M.Div.

One of the most common experiences for all human beings is feeling pain. Remember when you fell down and skinned your knee as a child and your mother rushed over and kissed it to make it feel better? Or maybe your father was there and he kindly told you to, "stand up and brush it off"? Fun memories, huh?

If you've ever had chronic pain, you would do anything to go back to that one-time skinned knee for sure! Chronic pain is a whole different experience all together. It can wear down the strongest man and leave the toughest woman gasping for help. That is not an over-exaggeration!

As the picture above illustrates, chronic pain occurs in a cycle, albeit, a vicious one. Chronic pain creates, among other things, psychological anxiety about the potential for more chronic pain. Often times, this can keep a person who suffers with chronic pain up at night worrying about the future. This, in turn, leads to a lack of restful sleep. Now the patient has chronic pain AND sleep deficit to attend too on top of anxiety. As time moves forward, other problems arise like rising medical costs, strained relationships with family or friends who tell you to, "just get over it already" or that it's, "all in your head"!

As if chronic pain, anxiety, sleeplessness, medical bills, and lack of familial/friend support isn't enough, now the chronic pain sufferer's quality of life has shrunk to an all-new low with the additive ingredients of fear and loneliness conjuring up images of dying alone in excruciating pain without any visitors or medical help because they can't afford it. Scared yet? As they say in A.A., "but by the Grace of God go I!"

Sadly, on top of the aforementioned afflictions, chronic pain sufferers take their pain medication as they are directed and many get addicted to it accidentally. In fact, chronic pain sufferers are a doctors dream because they are so compliant. Why? Because they're tired of feeling awful all day every day. It is that compliance and a faulty pleasure center that set them up for addiction without them even knowing it.

I have seen countless patients who came to detox off their prescription pain relievers (think oxycontin, percocet, vicodin, etc.) because they could not do it on their own. All of them feel a sense of shame as if they are the worst drug addict in the world because they weren't even TRYING to get addicted and they ended up that way. Fortunately, there is hope!

At The Coleman Institute, we help chronic pain patients detox off their prescription medications, direct them to other modalities of pain management, and help patients reclaim their health. It is very common for us to hear a chronic pain patient report after their detox that their pain is not as bad as they remembered it to be. This brings them us great joy! For the patients that do have a pain issue after detox, we do all that we can to find other ways to deal with that pain in a healthy and balanced way that is addiction-free!

If you or someone you love is addicted to prescription drugs due to chronic pain, you matter to us! We know you feel alone and uncertain about your future. If you want to experience a different kind of drug detox treatment that is safe and effective, please do not hesitate to call Jennifer Pius or Amy Stewart at 1-877-773-3869. We're just a phone call away!

About Me

The Coleman Institute, the Advanced Center for Addiction Treatment, is recognized as one of the most successful and innovative outpatient accelerated detox centers for addiction treatment in the country with 10 offices in the U.S.
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